Stress is one big energy suck until you learn to use it, rather than lose it. We'll help you deal with it the right way to be more productive, more accomplished, more alive.

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STRESS IS BAD. Stress kills you. Stress makes your hair fall out. We could go on with the dire warnings we've all heard about stress, along with the message that the only way to live a happy life is to avoid it. To run like hell from it. And if it catches up to you, to stop whatever you're doing and try to relax. Much better to put off any big projects, from rearranging the living room furniture to running a 5K, for another day (read: possibly never) when you're "not so stressed."

But according to science, that's all wrong, because a natural by-product of stress is actually more energy. Consider the biology: When something happens to set off your body's stress response--say, a semi edges too close to you on the highway, or your boss gives you a deadline of five minutes ago--a part of your brain called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system switches on. The HPA sends a bunch of chemicals into your bloodstream (including cortisol, norepinephrine, adrenaline, and super-zoomy neuropeptide S) that help you focus and pump you up. Thus, stress naturally becomes go-power.

Don't just take scientists' word for it. Think of the people you know who do their best under pressure. Our minds went to Katie Couric, the slightly busy lady we spent a day with. "I thrive on insanity," says Couric. "And if I'm not under stress, somehow I'll figure out a way to make myself that. So I won't leave enough time to get ready, just so I can rush around and get my adrenaline going. I seem to really operate best when I'm under the gun."

But even Katie-types can't stay on high alert at all times; if we get stuck in the HPA response, we end up feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed instead of peppy and productive. That's toxic stress, and over time it can lead to everything from irritable bowel syndrome and a weakened immune system to heart disease and depression. The trick is to learn how to work with and not against stress--to neutralize the toxicity and, pardon the crassness, get s&%! done. "When most people feel pressure, the immediate thing they want to do is stop, go watch something on Lifetime, and zone out," says Kathleen Hall, Ph.D., a mindfulness expert and stress consultant for Fortune 500 companies. "What you really need is to train yourself to do something that will change your mood from stressed to energized." We pumped some of the most dynamic, successful, and effective people we know for their angst-to-energy secrets. Use them to become a person who's powerful under pressure, starting today.

Power switch: Change your mind

Medical researchers have a term for what we're talking about: It's eustress--"eu" comes from the Greek for "good." They say flipping the switch from bad to good may be a purely mental trick. "How we frame things in our minds totally defines our emotional and physical responses," says Hall. "People who feel out of control, for example, have huge stress levels. Their perception of the world is, I don't have any control over my life, my job, my kids. Whereas people who feel like they are making choices feel energized, regardless of the circumstances."

Katherine McKenzie, 33, is a newlywed and a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium in Palo Alto, CA. As part of her work, she studies stress, and uses what she's learned in her own complicated life. For example, when she and her fellow-student husband feel financial panic coming on, she actively works to change her thinking: "My monkey mind will generate chatter about money, but I don't have to listen." Instead of taking every negative thought at face value, she tries to let go of the anxieties that aren't productive, and "identify which worries are problems that can be fixed." Then she gets to work. Say you have two big bills--car payment and rent--due at the same time but don't have enough in the bank to cover both. Brainstorming ideas on how to manage that, like contacting a creditor to ask for a deferral, can keep you out of a freak-out spiral. Instead of catastrophizing--leaping to the assumption that it will all turn out badly--or blowing things out of proportion, the energizing hormones created by your stress can get you up and at 'em, spurring you to find a solution.

We spend most of our time holed up indoors these days, but it's not the way we're meant to live. "We evolved being outside. It was the natural order of things, and our bodies and minds need the smells, the oxygen, the light," says Hall. "When you're outside, levels of mood-lifting serotonin rise. We've studied people who are outside runners and those who do it indoors on a treadmill; the ones who do it in nature feel more invigorated afterward." In fact, fresh air is rich in negative ions (those are air molecules with an extra electron), which have been shown to increase oxygen flow to the brain for more alertness and mental energy, she adds. So get some air whenever you feel stress building up. If you can't bust out, just looking at nature can help. One classic study--which led to the creation of "healing gardens" in hospitals, by the way--found that postoperative patients with a window view healed faster and needed fewer painkillers. That's some powerful mind-body medicine.

Power switch: Get moving

Don't just exercise to tighten and slim your whatever--do it because it's one of the all-time best ways to blast out stress and increase energy. Physical activity bathes your brain in a bunch of neurochemicals including norepinephrine, which helps with focus and alertness. And because exercise is a natural physical stressor, it sets off your body's HPA stress response in a healthy way.

"Exercise is the only way for me to get a kick in the pants--from the moment I lift a weight or push the start button on a machine, I feel energized, no matter how stressed out I am," says Kathy Kaehler, a longtime fitness trainer to celebs like Julia Roberts. "I have three boys, 12 and twin 16-year-olds, and I'm dealing with aging parents, running a business, making ends meet, and trying to look the part of a Hollywood health coach who's approaching 50! But thank God for exercise," she says. If you're so stressed you can barely work up the momentum to listen to your voicemails, "get up and move," she urges. "I guarantee you will feel better."

Google is known for having one of the most demanding work environments in the country, and executives were worried about burnout. That is, until Chade-Meng Tan, a former engineer and author of the New York Times best-seller Search Inside Yourself, started a class at Google to teach employees mindfulness techniques like meditation. The class worked magic on their productivity: "They get more stuff done in less time," he explains. "That's the good news. The bad news is that when people feel more efficient and more energetic, they just do even more!"

What works for Googlers can work for you: Piles of research confirms that mindfulness meditation improves your brain's ability to pay attention during times of stress, according to the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The best part, says Tan, is that it can be done in two minutes a day: "The easy way is just to bring attention to your breathing," he says. Begin by simply becoming aware of the fact that you're breathing. Then notice the process, that you're drawing air in and exhaling out. If you get distracted--which is bound to happen--just notice (in a nonjudgmental way) and gently bring your focus back to your breath. "There's no way to do this wrong," Tan says.

The more crazed we are, the more frivolous cutting loose seems, but research tells us that laughter is the next best thing to exercise when you need to convert your stress into energy. According to studies by Dr. Lee Berk, a professor of public health at Loma Linda University in California, even just anticipating that you're about to have a chuckle boosts levels of happy-making endorphins and energizing human growth hormone in the body. "Human growth hormone invigorates us," Berk explains. In his study, people who were told they were going to watch a funny movie felt 35 percent less tension and 63 percent less fatigue than they did before they learned they were in for a raucous giggle. After the film, they reported 61 percent less tension and--how's this for an energy benefit?--87 percent less fatigue.

That laughter-induced energy boost is something Emmy-nominated comedy writer Karey Dornetto--who's worked on shows like Portlandia, Community, and The New Normal--knows well. Tight deadlines and "working on shows that could be canceled in a heartbeat" are a recipe for stress that can flatline you, but partly because she makes time to "play around and be completely ridiculous," she thrives under the pressure. "Working with a group of people who are extremely funny helps," she says. No comedy writer in the next cubicle? Fire up a silly podcast like (the hilariously dirty) "Jordan, Jesse, Go!" or "Judge John Hodgman."

Power switch: Doodle, talk, tweet

Whatever stress and pressure you're feeling on the inside, it's important to get it out. "I keep a Word document on my computer where I just write in stream-of-thought about everything going on--anything I want to remember, anything that's weighing on me," says Daphne Oz, 26, a speaker, writer, and cohost of the lifestyle chat show The Chew on ABC. "Sometimes I'll go back and reread what I've written, but usually it's just an outlet to help me feel refreshed and less stressed--which I always do when I'm finished, even if I just spend five or 10 minutes doing it." Daphne's smart little trick is a twist on a classic strategy therapists recommend to ruminators, a.k.a. people who tend to go over and over stressful situations in their heads. "Women tend to ruminate more than men, and it can increase anxiety. It whips you up even more," says Reg Williams, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the school of nursing and psychiatry at the University of Michigan, who has counseled patients on stress and depression for almost three decades. But getting those thoughts out of your head--by talking to a friend or putting them down on paper--can interrupt the cycle. "Each time you get it out there, you're moving away from these God-awful feelings," Williams says. In other words, once you take that toxic stress blockage away, your mind is free to move on and become productive, so you actually start checking things off your to-do list.

The cherry on top of all this helpful info is this new truth: The more stress you have in your life, the happier you could be. In a study published in Social Indicators Research, people who reported having more eustress--stress they saw as a positive challenge rather than as a negative threat--were more satisfied with their lives than those who had less going on; 11 percent more satisfied, to be exact. When you consider the fact that stress can make you more productive and more fulfilled, the phrase "stressed out" has a whole new, happy meaning.

Sneaky signs you may be stressed

It's obvious when you're walloped all at once by anxiety--pass the paper bag!--but some symptoms of ongoing stress are so subtle, you might not even make the link. Learn to spot these early warning signs so you can calm yourself and become more productive at the same time.

Jaw pain. If you wake up sore from the neck up, you could be grinding your teeth in your sleep, explains Sally Cram, D.D.S., a spokesperson for the American Dental Association. Facial muscles tense up when stressed, which can lead to spasms while you're asleep, causing teeth to clench.

Tummy troubles. "When under stress, people may swallow air, leading to abdominal discomfort," says Douglas Drossman, M.D., a professor of medicine and psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. X-rays of people who are stressed show more gas bubbles in the stomach.

A lagging libido. Find that you're not in the mood night after night? A low libido may be a clue that you're mentally and physically drained.

Canker sores. Stress may spark flare-ups of these small ulcers in or around your lip, says Cram. They're irritated by spicy, salty, and acidic foods. Relax a little and you can order Mexican again. -- JESSICA GIRDWAIN